Public programs

Friday Nights at the de Young feature special lectures related to current exhibitions at the de Young. This Friday, July 22 Kieran Ridge presents "Picasso and Modern Literature: Liquid Architecture of the Palace of Marvels," a discussion of Picasso as a writer and the influence of contemporary authors and literature in his art. This is the first of three lectures presented in partnership with Alliance Française in celebration of Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris.

Mr. Ridge is chair of the English Department at The Marin School, where he teaches literature and film studies. To pique your interest in this fascinating subject, we have asked Mr. Ridge to answer a few questions about Picasso, the writer!

"Will Work for Art" takes you behind the scenes to meet the people who make the Fine Arts Museums work. This week we feature a member of the frontline. Clara Hatcher works as the de Young receptionist and supports the visitor services and marketing departments. Originally from Ithaca, New York, Clara has been with the Museums for three years.

What do you do here at the Museums?

I assist with visitor services, marketing and education department projects. I help plan and implement the Friday night hands-on art table. And as the receptionist, I act as a general hub of information about the Museums.

Visitors to the Artist Studio (Kimball Education Gallery) may remember the charming textiles artist Joe Cunningham and “Joe’s Quilt Shop.” Joe has long been a favorite of the Bay Area quilting world, and in March 2010, he took up residency in the Artist Studio, taught visitors how to quilt, regaled us with clever ballads, reversed the stereotype that men don’t quilt, and impressed us with his works, including Bend in the River, which was acquired by the de Young.  Now, he returns to the Museum as part of the annual textiles event Discarded to Divine.

What is your background as an artist?

My father's family (in Leone Village, Tutuila Island, US Territory of American Samoa) were architects, shipbuilders, and tapa (barkcloth) painters, also my grandmother and great grandmother on my mother's side were tapa painters and I used to help them when I was a small boy in Samoa.  As a young man I studied conceptual art at Cal Arts for a couple years but was disenchanted and ended up working in television in Los Angeles for years.  About seven years ago I began painting again while living in Samoa and living on money from a script I wrote.  Since then I'm in love with painting and its my life long work now.